Daylily named Black Eyed Stella

ABSTRACT

A new daylily cultivar having a profuse production of relatively small flowers having a generally buff yellow color and distinguished by an annular dark red band at its mid-portion surrounding a golden throat having a lime green heart; this plant being particularly characterized by a habit of blooming continuously through upwards of 100 days per year from March until frost in USDA climate zone 10 and mid-May through Fall in climate zone 6.

BACKGROUND OF THE NEW PLANT

My new daylily cultivar originated as a seedling of a hybrid produced byme at my ranch at Tomball, Tex., by crossing the cultivar Stella De Orowith pollen from the cultivar Little Celina in 1983 and this seedlinghas been reproduced by me at my Tomball ranch by means of offsets andselections of naturally occuring divisions through several generationswhereby it was determined that the novel characteristics of the originalseedling would hold true from generation to generation and appeared tobe firmly fixed.

Present propagation of this new plant is being done by divisions andoffsets at Grain Valley, Mo., and by tissue culture at Magnolia, Tex.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

My new Daylily cultivar is illustrated by the accompanying full colorphotograhic drawings of which, the right hand view shows face views ofseveral mature blooms of the new plant; and the left hand view shows apotted assembly, or clump, of several scapes in full bloom. The colorreproduction in these two views is as close to that herein specified asis reasonably possible to obtain by professional photographicprocedures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW PLANT

The following is a detailed description of my hybrid daylily cultivarbased upon observation of plants grown at Grain Valley, Mo., in thecurrent season, the color designations of the flower being according tothe Pantone Matching System (PMS).

THE PLANT

Origin: Seedling.

Parentage:

Seed parent.--Daylily cultivar Stella De Oro (unpatented).

Pollen parent.--Little Celina (unpatented).

Classification:

Botanic.--Hemerocallis hybrid.

Commercial.--Daylily cultivar `Black Eyed Stella`.

Form: Single stem, erect and stately scape from a fan shaped plant madeup of narrow arching grass-like long keeled glabrous leaves 2-ranked atthe base of the scape.

Foliage:

Quantity.--Abundant, a mature plant having about 12 leaves.

Leaf size: About 11/4 inches wide and about 111/2 inches long.

Leaf shape: Linear and long keeled with entire margins.

Texture: Glabrous.

Color: Dark Green (PMS 371/378).

Scape:

Color.--Dark Green (PMS 378).

Height.--About 14 inches.

THE BUD

Form: Modified oblanceolate.

Size (Day before opening):

Length.--About 3.6 cm.

Width.--About 1.3 cm.

Opening rate: About 6 hours.

Color:

When sepals first divide.--Green (PMS 383).

Penduncle:

Character.--Rigid and sturdy.

Color.--Dark Green (PMS 378).

THE FLOWER

Blooming habit: The flowers bloom recurrently and the scape iscontinuously in bloom for a period upwards of 100 days.

Flower size: Small.

Diameter.--About 31/8 inches.

Depth.--About 2 inches.

Borne: Singly on the branchlets of a sturdy, erect rachis which isramulous; each scape has at least four or five peduncles each of whichdivides into twelve or fifteen pedicels.

Number of blooms per scape: One to four each day.

Petalage: The flower consists of six perianth segments consisting ofthree sepals (the outer segments) and three petals (the inner segments)all in an imbricated arrangement.

THE SEPALS

Shape: Oblanceolate with slightly undulated entire margins and anacuminate apex.

Size: About 13/8 inches long and 5/8 inch wide.

Texture: Ribbed.

THE PETALS

Shape: Broadly obovate with entire undulated margins and a broadlycuspidate apex.

Texture: Slightly puckered and ribbed.

Size: About 15/8 inch by 11/8 inch.

Color: Buff Yellow (PMS 134) with a Dark Red (PMS 187) mid-portion and aGold throat (PMS 136).

Effect of weather: This plant is not in any way affected by sunlight butis slightly darker in wet weather.

Fragrance: Slight.

Disease resistance: This plant is resistant to root rot as observed atTomball, Tex.

Lasting quality: About 24 hours.

THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS

Stamens:

Number.--Six.

Arrangement.--Inserted individually at the summit of the perianth tube.

Anthers.--Arrangement: Introrse. Size: 4 mm. Color: Brown (PMS 161).

Filaments.--Slender and 3 cm. in length. Color: Gold (PMS 136).

Pollen.--Color: Golden (PMS 143).

Pistils:

Number.--One.

Style.--Length: 6 cm. Color: Gold (PMS 136).

Stigma.--Color: White.

Character of ovaries: Three celled.

Shape.--Oblong, becoming a loculieidally 3-valved capsule.

THE FRUIT (Seed Pod)

Shape: The seed pod is an ovoid capsule.

Color: Ranges from Pale Green (PMS 384) to Brown (PMS 465) at maturity.

Fertility: The seeds are fertile.

My new variety of Daylily most nearly resembles the well-known cultivarStella De Oro, but is distinguished in particular by being a largerbloom having a very unique annular color band at its mid-portion whichsurrounds the throat of the bloom. Further, the new variety has a 10%larger root and plant size than does the cultivar Stella De Oro and ismore resistant to root rot, in USDA zones 9 and 10 than Stella De Oro;and the extremely long period of continuous blooming has been verifiedby the controlled propagation of more than 5,000 cultivars of Dayliliesgrown for testing and verification of the fixed homogeneity of the newplant.

By direct comparison, the tested cultivars show the followingdistinctive characteristics:

1. My new plant (fan) increases at least 5 times per year whereas theaverage plant increases only about 2 times per year.

2. The average blooming period for my new plant is at least 106 dayswhereas the average plant has a blooming period of about 21 days.

3. My new plant produces about 2.5 blooms per day whereas the ordinaryplant averages less than one per day.

4. The average time of excellent quality foliage for my new cultivar isabout 18 weeks whereas the average time of excellent quality foliage forthe ordinary plant is only 10 weeks.

I claim:
 1. A new and distinctive Daylily cultivar, substantially asherein shown and described, particularly distinguished by a bloom ofmedium size having a dark red annular ring at its mid-portionsurrounding a golden colored throat; and a continuous blooming periodupwardly of 100 days for a plant having an average height of about 14inches.